This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Trespass charge dropped against Star reporter who photographed news event at Union Station

A charge of trespassing was withdrawn Friday against Toronto Star reporter Alex Consiglio in connection with a June incident outside Union Station in which he took a photo of an injured GO transit officer.

Crown prosecutor Geoff Kerr told the court Friday the charge had been dropped, three months after Consiglio’s arrest drew statements of concern from Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and PEN Canada.

This photograph by Alex Consiglio of a GO Transit officer being loaded onto an ambulance on June 2 led to his arrest for trespassing in what appears to be a public area outside the Union GO station. (Alex Consiglio / Toronto Star)

Consiglio had witnessed several Toronto officers rush toward the GO Transit track level at Union Station early on June 2. On the basis there could be breaking news, he followed and took a photo of an injured transit officer crouched beside the track. He was told he had to leave and moved on.

Earlier there had been a skirmish involving a man who had tried to open the doors of a moving train, and two GO Transit officers had been thrown onto the tracks.

After leaving through the station’s exit doors, Consiglio saw an injured GO Transit officer being put into an ambulance and took a photo. He was then arrested. A Toronto police officer put him in a headlock before he was handcuffed and put into a police cruiser. His camera equipment and cellphone were taken away.

Article Continued Below

Although outside the building, he was apparently on Union Station property. Consiglio was later released and given a $65 ticket for trespassing, which he challenged, leading to his appearance in the Ontario Court of Justice. His camera and cellphone were also returned at the scene.

CJFE described that as an “unreasonable expectation when there is sudden breaking news” and expressed concern about excessive use of force. “Journalists should not suffer intimidation for doing their job,” said CJFE board member Peter Jacobsen.

PEN Canada likewise expressed concerns about Charter rights being violated and pointed out that it’s not illegal to take pictures of police doing their duties, or to take pictures on private property that’s open to the public, such as transportation centres, unless specifically prohibited by posted signs.

But on Friday Aikins said that there were “misunderstandings’’ among GO security officers that day. “We realize sometimes breaking news events happen,’’ she told the Star. If a journalist today was to take a photo under similar circumstances, he or she would not be charged with trespassing, she said. As long as the journalist is not putting anyone at risk and is not anywhere he or she is not supposed to be — such as jumping down on train tracks — taking photos of a breaking news event shouldn’t be a problem, she said.

Consiglio said he was disappointed the charge was withdrawn because he’d been “looking forward to challenging what, if any, basis Toronto police and GO Transit officers had for cuffing me, charging me and impeding my right to photograph a breaking news scene.’’

Based on reports from police and transit officers, Toronto police spokesperson Mark Pugash said at the time, “If somebody is, in the view of the people who are there, in the way … if they refuse to move back, then they can be arrested and officers are allowed to use reasonable force.

Article Continued Below

Consiglio said he was never in the way of any officer or paramedic on the scene.

More from The Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com